Formation and optical properties of new glasses within Sb₂O₃–WO₃–ZnO ternary system

New Sb₂O₃-based heavy metal oxide glasses in the Sb₂O₃–WO₃–ZnO ternary system were prepared using a conventional melt-quenching method. The glass-forming domain and physical properties like density, thermal, structural and linear optical properties of the glasses have been investigated. The physical properties of glasses have been studied extensively as a function of WO₃ and ZnO concentration (mol%) in the Sb₂O₃–WO₃–ZnO ternary glassy system. It was found that the glass transition temperature increases linearly with WO₃ concentration, but thermal stability decreases, while both the glass transition temperature and thermal stability almost linearly increases with ZnO concentration. The glasses within 60Sb₂O₃–xWO₃–(40 − x)ZnO ternary system with x = 10, 15 and 20 were found as most thermally stable glasses. The density and refractive index of these glasses increases as the content of WO₃ increases. The available free space in the glass i.e. free volume and optical band gap of the glass decreases with higher concentration of WO₃. This work demonstrates that proper composition can lead to effective and beneficial change in physical properties of the Sb₂O₃-based glasses.